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At the restaurant I make my own butter, but I have given you a shortcut here. Try any seaweed that you can find. Dried mixes are starting to appear in supermarkets, and nori (blitzed in a food processor) works well. Fresh is ideal.

METHOD

Let the butter soften gradually at room temperature but don’t let it melt. Mix the seaweed, fresh or dry, with the sea salt. When the butter is soft, mix in the salted seaweed until it is evenly distributed. Shape the butter into a cylinder or rectangular block and wrap it in wax paper. Place in the fridge to firm up. This will make more than you need, but will keep in the fridge for up to a week. It also freezes very well.

Rub a little oil on a grill tray and sprinkle with sea salt (this will season the bottom side of the fish). Lay the four soles on the tray (or on two oiled trays) and lay a couple of slices of seaweed butter on each fish. Grill for about 1½ minutes then baste the fish with the melted butter. Grill for a further 1½ minutes then remove from the grill and allow the fish to finish cooking on the hot tray for a further 3 minutes.

Serving the fish on its own, coated in the melted butter, allows you to appreciate the lovely combination of seaweed and sole.

Alternative: scallops in seaweed butter

If you can’t get hold of slip soles, this is a great alternative.

SERVES

4 as a starter

INGREDIENTS

4 large scallops or 8 small ones

Seaweed butter

METHOD

Ask your fishmonger to take the scallops from their shell and remove the orange coral. Make sure you keep the shells.

Put a nugget of seaweed butter in the bottom of each shell, place a scallop on top, and then a bit more butter. Put the scallops in their shells on a tray and grill for about 3 minutes. Baste them halfway through and again at the end. Serve in their shells with bread to mop up the juices.